Singapore

Citi has hired a former Standard Chartered banker as its new chief economist for India.

OUE Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit), which is looking for a S$360m ($258m) three year loan to fund acquisitions, has launched the deal into general syndication.

Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city (SSTEC) has completed its debut foray into the offshore bond market this week, raising Rmb1bn ($157m) from a three year offering. The debutant was able to piggyback on the success of recent dim sum outings from Chinese financial institutions.

Julius Baer has announced plans to issue a Singapore dollar-denominated Basel III additional tier one (AT1). If it goes ahead with the deal, the Swiss firm will be the first foreign bank to issue an AT1 in the city state.

Westpac has appointed Sneha Sanghvi as its new head of financial markets for Asia, replacing Michael Bass who is relocating to the bank’s London office.

Noble Group has wrapped up a new $1.1bn borrowing, making a comeback to the loan market just six months after completing a larger syndication.

Singapore-listed Frasers Centrepoint (FCL) has signed a £300m ($468.5m) five year acquisition loan via Frasers Hospitality UK Holdings.

Australia and New Zealand Bank and Crédit Agricole have beefed up their respective Asian loans teams with new appointments.

BoC Aviation has notched up a new landmark for Asia by becoming the first issuer from the region to sell an aircraft leasing ABS. Market observers are buoyed by the landmark transaction and hope it will spur similar deals from Asia and particularly China, writes Rev Hui.

The next stage of RMB internationalisation needs to focus on improving the connectivity between the onshore and offshore market to improve liquidity. This could be done encouraging more foreign entities to raise funds through Panda bonds and providing more offshore investment routes for onshore RMB, says Zhang Weiwu, general manager of ICBC Singapore, to GlobalRMB.

Singapore and China have announced new initiatives to boost the internationalisation of renminbi (RMB) through the city-state.

DBS Bank is following in the footsteps of its peers with plans to launch a Panda bond this year, several sources have told GlobalRMB. The deal will not only be the bank’s debut in China’s onshore bond market, but also mark the first such trade from Singapore.